I can’t claim to have the experience with contracts that someone like John Scalzi has when it comes to publishing but after 12 books, and a bunch of speaking contracts, I know the bad parts when I see them and I’ve generally be able to negotiate to my satisfaction. But in this case even I can tell that the contract from the Random House digital imprint Alibi, is a big ball ‘o crap. Mr. Scalzi got ahold of a copy and has a great write-up of it’s contents. His conclusion:
I want to be clear: I can say, without reservation, that this is the worst book contract I have ever personally encountered. Not only would I never sign it — which should be obvious at this point — I can’t imagine why anyone whose forebrain has not been staved in by an errant bowling ball would ever sign it. Indeed, if my worst enemy in the world was presented with it and had a pen poised to scratch his signature on it, I would smack the pen out of his hand and say to him, “I hate you, but I don’t hate you this much.”
Read the rest over on Whatever.
